Wataru & Haruka One Hell of a Love Story
by DisneyChick 2012
Summary: Just when Wataru was getting over his last crush Mari who had crushed his heart like a mallet on the 'Whack a mole' arcade game. Then out of nowhere another girl turns up, a girl more like him red hair and a tendency to be feisty, could this really be the one for him or will someone else steal her heart away? Sending him back to his emo corner like a certain famous anime star.


**Wataru & Haruka; One hell of a love story. **

**Chapter 1**

"Damn Hino!" Wataru grumbled as he saw his former rival walk hand in hand with his crush! "Ah you're not still sore over her are you? There are more does in the forest you know," Ryosuke said, which was easy for him as he never held any attachment to the girls he dated, try different ones until he found the one. "Easy for you to say, I've lost count of how many girls you've dated! Every term it's someone new!" Nippori exclaimed as he walked alongside them as he always had since he befriended them on his first day at Karasumori High.

 **1 year earlier….**

 _'_ _Leave me alone! Get off!'_

 _"_ _Hey Wataru, some guys mugging the new kid," Ryosuke said as he nudged the redhead's shoulder. With a sigh he turned and looked at the scene from over his shoulder, there was the new boy Nippori Keji…. He looked like a first year student as he still had that puppy face._

 _'_ _It's my lunch money!' Nippori snapped as he tried to fight them off, only to be pushed back against the wall and his pockets raided. 'Get off me! I told you don't touch me!" Nippori barked as he tried desperately to wriggle out of their grasp but being older and rugby players, they were too strong._

 _'_ _Hey!' A loud, sharp voice roared like Mufasa behind the jocks. 'What do you want ginger nut?' the rugby jerk asked as he kept Nippori's left arm pinned against the wall. Wataru was never one for words at the time, all action so he went straight to punching the mugger in the jaw and the rest of the gang quickly joined, never missing an opportunity for a good fight. Try as they did, the two third year rugby jocks had as much chance as a couple of zebra against a pack of tigers in a fight._

 _Once they were gone, Wataru approached the distressed teen. "Name's Azuma Wataru, if those guys know what's good for them they won't go near you again," Wataru said as he helped him up. "Ryosuke, those guys are Tachibana, Tezuka and Akabane," Ryosuke said as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I- I'm Nippori Keji… I'm a first year," Nippori replied with a nervous stutter as he was always a shy kind of guy that was until after that day. "Thought so but that doesn't matter, from today we are friends," Wataru said as he shook his hand. From then on Wataru became something like a big brother to Nippori as he and Ryosuke taught him how to best defend himself if he ever found himself in a situation such as being mugged or attacked. Over time by hanging out with them, he developed his confidence and overcome his shyness so then when people looked at him they would of never thought he was at one point in his life a vulnerable little kid._

"Nippori!"

Nippori blinked at the sudden sound of Wataru's voice that snapped him out of his flashback. "Huh?"

"Were your day dreaming or something? You just suddenly stopped walking and froze!" Wataru asked as it was more like Yuta to day dream, mostly about performing rhythmic gymnastics in front of a cheering crowd or announced to of won the internationals, which by the way things were going, would only be a dream. "I know those puppy eyes, now Nippori has a crush," Ryosuke joked as he grinned mischievously at his friend. "N- no… I haven't found a girl I like- like yet… I just zoned out I guess," Nippori replied, slipping back into the old him with the stutter. "Cute Nippori kun, there must be a girl in this school that you like- like," Ryosuke teased as he now believed that his young mate was crushing on a girl.

After a moment of silence Nippori shrugged then decided to let it out, if he couldn't tell his best mates who could he tell? "There's this girl in my Japanese class… she's kinda cute, she makes her own manga when at break and lunch time," Nippori said as he looked down to see her there with two of her friends. She was taller than the rest of the girls in the class, he heard she was half British, half Japanese, she had a round face, a few freckles dotted around probably from the time she spent in Britain, long ivory black hair, which was a little messy, tied in a loose ponytail that leaned against her back. She had thick black rectangular rimmed glasses and a shiba inu shaped pencil case that he thought was cute and a Pikachu shaped back pack which always contained her school books, a manga book and a A5 drawing book which she made her own manga with.

"Ah you like the otaku type…. Hey if you get into her good books she might make a manga character out of you!" Ryosuke joked as he put an arm over his mate's shoulder. "If you do hit it off with her though be prepared to watch countless anime DVDs and be told all about every manga book she reads, I've dated a few otakus, manga and anime is everything to them."

"She doesn't look too bad though, best of luck Nippori," Wataru replied with a sigh as he learnt the hard way not to get his hopes too high for a girl, it would only crush you when she chooses your rival turned teammate over you.

"Yeah… I've been trying to ask her but I was too afraid that the stutter would come back and I'll make a total dumbass of myself!" Nippori sighed as he looked down to the floor and leaned against the wall. "Nah if anything it would make you look cute," Ryosuke said as he quietly laughed at his youngest friend. "What are you some girl expert or something?" Wataru asked as he could have done with his 'wisdom' a few months ago!

"I guess so, I've been with all sorts, girly, tomboy, shy, otaku, geeky, goth, emo, cute, hot," Ryosuke replied confidently as out of the three of them, the whole group even, he was the one who had the most experience with girls. "What about foreign? Lil- Chan's from England…. I'm crap at English!" Nippori exclaimed as he thought his chances with her were out of the window. "Well there was that one girl from America, she was pretty cool… never been with an English girl though, there hasn't been any around here before," Ryosuke replied. "Damn… maybe she won't mind… I mean she seems to understand Japanese well," Nippori sighed as she hoped she did or things would be really awkward if they couldn't hardly understand a word they say to each other. "Yeah… because you're my mate I'll let you in on a little secret, a way to a girl's heart is through her ears, compliment her often, act like you love her then she'll believe you and fall in love with you," Ryosuke said and laughed as his expression cracked him up, if he was a cartoon he swore a light bulb would light up above his head.

"Why didn't you tell me that?" Wataru asked as he never gave him that much advice. "You hardly ever talked to her, it was all show like a peacock, she was already crushing on Hino kun anyway, you weren't the guy she's into, she likes cool, pretty boys like Hino kun, she probably thought you were a punk with your hair and the way you went off like a time bomb when you got mad, that scares most girls," Ryosuke said which made the red head curse under his breath as he suddenly realised his mistake. "You would go with a girl who is a little tougher than Mari- chan... like your mom, she would be more into guys like you," Ryosuke suggested. "I guess so," Wataru sighed though it sounded weird to him to date on someone who was like his mother… the one person who could strike the fear of God into him when mad for as far back as he could remember.

"I've got to go, my teacher will be coming in a minute, see you later," Nippori said as he jogged back to his classroom which he just remembered he had. "Yeah see ya Nippori, good luck with the otaku believe me you will need it!" Ryosuke exclaimed as he gave him a quick wave then followed Wataru to their classroom.

"Hey have you ever heard the tale of the Shoma brothers? How one was kept and the other was taken away?" The media club president, his name Wataru could never remember, his dad run Sakura TV, that was all he knew about him. He always came out with some weird stories, like two brothers being separated at birth then again in childhood only but when they do come back together they end up killing each other. "No but it sounds terrible," Mari replied as like most of his classmates had gotten hooked on the rumour that the Japanese American rock star Drake Russo was related to some Japanese guy called Kyoya Shoma. "Oh it is, hope you have some tissues with you because it's a tear jerker," Matsuda Soga replied as he shook his head. "It all started twenty years ago, there was a young woman, coming near her twenties, Hitachi Mariko, she was made to marry a friend of her younger brother's to produce a future heir for the Masamoto syndicate… She had no choice but to bare him two twin girls, Haruhi and Kotoko."

"I thought you said they were brothers," Mari piped up as she held Hino's hand to praise herself for the tragic part of the story. "Yes but they came later!" Matsuda snapped as he hated it when people interrupted him while he was telling a story!

"As I was saying, two girls weren't what Shoma Hikaru wanted so he kept on at her but then got nothing as by that time he had ran short of supplies… which he blamed her for because, hey he was a dick. Then one day she met an American man who treated her so much better so later on he got her over to his place, they both got drinking and in affect fell in love with each other and you know what happens when that happens? They had a one night stand and that's was when Shoma- Kun was made!" Matsuda said and was greeted with a mixed reaction of gasps and snarls. "She sounds like a slut," Hino hissed in disgust at her stupidity. "It wasn't her fault! He drugged her up right Matsuda kun?" Mari exclaimed as her eyes widened almost the size of an anime character.

"When she realized what had happened she was terrified as if Shoma san were to find out she had slept with another man he would kill her and the baby to so she ran away to Kyoto with her new American friend, taking the two twin girls with them. On the surface they looked like a pretty good family but in reality they were anything but, while Haruhi loved Kyoya to bits, Kotoko however was resentful for towards him and their mother for screwing everything up for a foreigner of all people! Anyway when Kyoya turned five, they had made another baby, this is Drake, they thought they were safe in the depths of Kyoto but they couldn't have been more wrong as Shoma- Kun sent out spies to find them and it was her own little brother Takashi who had tracked them down. The night Drake was born, Kotoko and Haruhi were left to look after Kyoya, after Haruhi put him to bed that was then Shoma and Hitachi san decided to strike. As soon as she left Kyoya's room they slaughtered Haruhi, slashed her throat open with one swing of a large knife. He didn't know which child was his but he decided to kill them all anyway to punish his dishonourable wife! Just when he was about to stab Kyoya in the chest, Kotoko did something truly extraordinary for her and pushed him away and told Kyoya to run and hide until morning while she attempted to fight him off. Luckily he managed to get to the allocated hiding place safely and Kotoko survived with just a few cuts and bruises, after his dad brought him home, he never met Drake as he was kept at the hospital for some kind of medical treatment… it all came crushing down on them as they now feared not just for their safety but for the children's. It was then they struck up a deal with the American's mother, she would take the youngest to live with him and her in America until he becomes of age, at which time he would be able to look after himself and they would at least still have one child left to inherit the Russo family company, which was the only thing she was concerned about," Matsuda said then took a long awaited pause to take a breath and take in his listener's reactions. "Oh they have no memory of each other at all?" Mari chan asked as she brought a handkerchief to her teary eyes. "Not a one, the mother tried to keep him for another few days for them to meet but the American's mother never gave her a chance as she came straight to her home before Kyoya returned from school," Matsuda replied as he slyly grinned at their expressions, he could see them just picturing that scene.

 _Her holding the six- week old baby in her arms, crying, as she knew it was only a matter of time before he was taken away._

 _"_ _Only mine until, the time comes to pay up the bill, then I'm afraid what cannot be paid, they must take away, you never, ever learn that nothing is yours on easy terms…. Only for a time I must not learn to call you mine… familiarize that face those eyes, make future plans that can't ever be confirmed, on borrowed time, on easy terms. Living on the never, never, constant as the change in weather, never knowing who is going to be coming through that door or the price that I will have to pay, should we meet again. If I even live to see the day, I will not recognize your name, you can be sure, what's gone before will be covered up. No one will ever know, that once we were on easy terms."_

 _"_ _He's home, you didn't notify Roy," Grandma America said as she bursted herself into the apartment. "I was going to tell you later, he just gotten out of hospital, he needs time to recover… I want to keep him for at least a few more days, he hasn't even met his brother yet!" Mariko snapped as she felt her spirit animal of a dragon come out. "Nice try but there's no going back now, the papers had been signed, from this day on he is a Russo! He will have nothing more to do with your lot!" Grandma America snapped then without warning snatched the baby from the box cot and went off like a shot._

"Would you cut it out? This is real people you're talking about!" Kiyama snapped as he banged his fist against his desk, at that moment everyone, even Wataru, who just ventured off into his own world with Ryosuke, as it was so unlike the stoic wise owl to blast at people, then again this was bound to offend him as he knew just how it felt to have dishonourable rumours spread around about you. "Hey don't shoot the messenger!" Soge said as he held his hands up in mock surrender which just seemed to infuriate the loner more. "What you're doing is humiliating Shoma kun! Try seeing it from his eyes! His mother dishonoured as you make her out to be a weak, stupid woman who just randomly slept around with men like a slut! He already knew the circumstances around his birth weren't ideal but you know how self-conscious he is because of that! You should of at least asked his permission before going around telling his backstory!" Kiyama yelled as his brows frowned and his eyes blared a heated glare at the speckled geek.

"Don't you remember how embarrassed he got when Kashiwagi sensei called him out on his disability! He's been forced to hide it because of his fear of getting looked down on, he just wanted what everyone wants, acceptance but that's near impossible!" Taku snapped as that was a moment he truly sympathised with him as there it was as looked down as his homosexuality. He remembered the times he passed him in the corridor and other students ganged up on him saying that he shouldn't be the school because he was too thick to achieve anything, he remembered the names that stung him every time it came out. 'Freak, weirdo, spaka, baka.'

 _"_ _Okay everyone we have two new students with us, they've just moved here from Kyoto so please make them feel welcome here… would you like to introduce yourselves?" Kashiwagi sensei asked as he tried to ease the nerves of the anxious Kyoya. The reaction was mixed to say the least, those like Wataru, Ryosuke and Kiyama were unfazed, Yuta, Kaneko and Hino looked interested in the newcomers who could possibly become future members. Girls gasped and a few squealed as they found the rumours about one of the new boys being a look alike of the actor Kamenashi Kazuya being true and like a cherry on top for them there was also who was just as cute boy as Tomohisa Yamashita. Within a minute a lot of them started fantasizing who would be their 'Nobuta.'_

 _After taking a quick breath Kyoya introduced himself to hopefully show Akito how it was done so no one would pick up on their secret. "My name is Shoma Kyoya, nice to meet you," Kyoya said then quickly bowed and prayed Akito had gotten the hint. "Akito!" Akito simply said which got him some funny looks and made Kyoya's cheeks flush as red as Wataru's hair. "Oh Shoma kun I've been told by the vice principal that you and Toshibo kun have autism," Kashiwagi said which seemed to bring the fear of God into the new boys as their eyes widened like a deer in headlights. "What? No we don't!" Kyoya barked as he tried really hard to keep himself calm and fight the urge to shake his legs in fear. "It's okay, you shouldn't be ashamed about it, there are some people with autism that have gone on to do great things, like the creator of Pokémon Teiji Satoshi!" Kashiwagi sensei said. "Cut it out! If I wanted people to know I have that condition I would tell them myself in my own time!" Kyoya snapped as he never felt so humiliated in his life, the way everyone stared at him was torture, as though he was suddenly not human anymore but an animal, a dog that needed to be trained. Taku Misuawa knew that feeling all too well._

"He's gone now! He left to take care of another set of legitimate Shoma children!" Soge snapped which nearly made Kiyama kick off. "That's not the point! He left because he felt he didn't belong here, which isn't surprising considering the way you people treated him and his friend! His life is none of our business so you have no right to talk dishonourably behind his back!" Kiyama yelled as he went to beat the living day lights out of him until Wataru blocked his way. "Kiyama cool it, he isn't worth getting disqualified for," he said then sent a warning death glare over his shoulder at Matsuda. He would let it go this time but he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to keep his cool if he started again.

"Good morning students!" Kashiwagi exclaimed as he entered the classroom completely innocent to the drama until the extremely tense atmosphere amongst his students dawned on him. "What's going on?" he asked as he sub consciously turned his head to Wataru out of habit as he was the usual trouble maker until he had calmed down. "Ask four eyes over there!" Wataru replied as he nodded at Matsuda so the 'old man' didn't get him confused with Kaneko, the only other student that had glasses. "Matsuda- Kun?" Kashiwagi sensei asked as he turned to him, he wanted to get to the bottom of it right there and then as the last thing he needed was for his boss to think he was incompetent because he couldn't keep his students in line. "Nothing to worry about sensei, it's been sorted," Matsuda replied as he clasped his hands together and bowed though as he got back up, the young journalist could see by the way the concerned expression remained on his face that he wasn't convinced that everything was 'okay.'

"If you must know Kashiwagi sensei, I was only just talking to my friends Mari- chan and Hino- kun when Kiyama came to attack me but fortunately Azuma was able to stop him," Matsuda said as he then sat himself back down with a smug smirk as the teacher's jaw dropped and turned to the messy raven haired gymnast.

"Low life snitch," Kiyama growled under his breath as he kicked the leg of his desk, which surprised both Wataru and Ryosuke as they exchanged bewildered looks to each other as they wondered the same thing; what in the world has gotten into him?

"Kiyama kun is this true? This isn't like you," Kashiwagi asked as he was stunned by the sudden change in attitude, he was usually quiet and peaceful, it was more like Wataru to cause a scene. "He was just dishonouring a former student, no big deal right? It's not like he has feelings or even human for that matter," Kiyama snapped as he glared up at Matsuda as he kept his arms wrapped over his chest which was a coping mechanism he learnt from Kyoya.

"Okay Kiyama- Kun we can talk about this after class," Kiyama sensei said as he didn't want to push the agitated teen further and was already ten minutes behind schedule in his Japanese lesson and they had to do better than last time they did the test otherwise he would be sent to the firing squad, which was every teacher's worst nightmare.

"Sure, whatever," Kiyama muttered as he looked down at his desk and leaned his head against his left hand to try and ignore the stares that burned into him like a dozen balls of fire.

"Okay, I'll just fill in the register then get on with the lesson," Kashiwagi sensei said as he opened up the register book for the umpteenth time since he started.

"Hey Kiyama Kun are you alright?" Wataru whispered as their teacher began roll call, he never bothered listening out for his name as he and Ryosuke were unmissable as they were the only two people in the classroom that didn't have black hair. "Yeah… I just wanted to stop Matsuda kun before he went too far, though it didn't seem to make any difference," Kiyama replied as he breathed a heavy sigh. "Why do you care so much about Shoma? He ran away just because a few dumb kids were mean to him," Ryosuke asked as he thought he was pathetic, Kiyama had been blamed for his best friend's death but he never ran away from it. "There was more to it than that, I just care because I know how it feels to get bad stories spread around about you or your family and I don't want anyone else to go through it," Kiyama said as he continued to stare at his desk. He couldn't help but wonder what had become of him after he left Kara High school. He didn't get any qualifications but he supposed he got them while he did his course or maybe his mom got him into a different school, one with more students like him so he wouldn't seem like such an odd ball.

"I'm here!" Akito exclaimed as he bursted into the room, Kashiwagi sighed as he looked up at the goofball that stood at the doors, he was a good boy, he would give him that but even he exasperated him with his air headedness. He was about Wataru's height, he had a round chubby cheeked face, eyes like a puppy, shaggy jet black hair which was always all over the place as though it had never come in contact with a brush in his seventeen years on earth. Some of them supposed if it wasn't for his guardian his uniform would be in a hot effing mess as well.

"What?" Akito asked as he put his hands on his hips and frowned at the teacher for acting as if it was his mother that came into his class and embarrass him. "You're late, I thought you left this school with Shoma kun?" Kashiwagi asked as he scanned the list of names in search for Toshibo and to his surprise Shoma was still on there as well. "No I just had to take some time off because my legs broke and Kyoya kun was in a coma for the past year, when he woke up he thought it was still 2009!" Akito exclaimed. "He's going to be coming in later after he's got the okay from the docs at the hospital!" He added then plonked himself down on one of the spare desks. "O- Okay, well welcome back Toshibo kun… you've got much to catch up on," Kashiwagi sensei said as he tried to remember where he was up to so he could resume the row call again.

"Looks like we're going to have another delinquent on the team Yuta," Hino whispered as he gestured to him as he just knew what was going to happen, Kashiwagi sensei will tell him that to make up for the credits he missed out on he had to join a club or take extra lessons and it was very rare for a student to choose the extra lessons option. "Just perfect," Yuta muttered sarcastically under his breath, he could never make him out, he didn't think he was a delinquent, he never meant to disrupt a lesson by turning up half an hour to an hour late, he never got into fights with people like Wataru and Ryosuke, he just never did well in class was because it was always too hard for him, Yuta couldn't help but think it was a shame that he couldn't find somewhere more suited to his…. Needs. Then again he might surprise them all and do great like a certain group of people he knew.

As soon as he ticked the last name on the list, Kashiwagi breathed a sigh of relief as he closed the book. "Today I am going to go over the rules of hiragana and katakana," Kashiwagi sensei said as he got himself up from the desk and turned to the board.

Wataru groaned as he knew he remembered Kashiwagi telling him he needed to work on his handwriting and spelling in the Japanese and history exams as well as remembering the things he had told the class about the Meji period, the emperors and shoguns also Japan's side of World War Two, which wasn't Japan's greatest hour and seemed to pain him to talk about his country in such a bad light. Even Toshibo kun was better at those subjects than him which surprised many of the teachers, apart from of course Ezaki sensei who told him to never underestimate a student because they are different. The only subject he could think of that Wataru didn't have such a problem with was math as he did much better at that test than the others, he supposed it had been drilled into his brain by his mother who ran her own restaurant. It was likely Wataru would take it over in the future to keep bringing bread to his table and the money in, from what he's seen that was what usually happened when small family businesses started. He knew he wouldn't want to go through the pain staking process of job hunting, especially if he doesn't at least get a qualification in Japanese when he graduates.

"How is he?" Taku whispered as he turned to Akito, surprised that he had come back after everything their classmates had put them through and that Kyoya had gotten into a coma from a road accident. Everyone thought he had ran away, from the school. "He's okay, just a little confused… I'll try to get him to come back here, it seems better here now, I've noticed Azuma kun doesn't get so mad at everyone anymore," Akito replied. "Yeah he's calmed down a lot since he joined the male rhymic gymnastics club," Taku said then after seeing the shocked look on his face as like everyone else he couldn't imagine the feisty red head tumbling in sync with a group of boys. "He was running short on credits so he had to choose to take a club or extra lessons, at that time a Mari- chan had just joined the class and he had gotten a crush on her, he saw her in the girls' club and wanted to try and impress her by learning tumbling, which didn't work out quite as he wanted as she chose to go out with Hino- Kun in the end but he seems okay with it now," Taku explained the basic story of how they had gotten together. "Ah I see… I guess I will have to do the same then…. I've been away for such a long time," Akito sighed as he couldn't believe how much had changed since the accident… what a nightmare that was.

 _"_ _Kyoya!" Akito screamed as he speeded towards him, then next thing he knew they were both knocked off their bikes by the extremely painful impact of the massive van and fell on the cold hard ground. The only other thing he remembered of the incident was him screaming as pain flared through his legs and his pointless attempt to wake Kyoya up as he got flung across the road._

"Toshibo kun… Toshibo kun!" Kashiwagi barked as he tried to knock the boy out of his flashback trance. "E- Eh?" Akito stuttered then jumped in shock that the class was empty, there was only him and the sensei there. Once again shocked by how fast the time had gone he rapidly turned around as though he thought he was going mad. "What the hell? Where has everyone gone?"

"Class ended five minutes ago, they are on their lunch break now, anyway there is something I need to talk to you about," Kashiwagi sensei said as he approached him. "Your academic credit score has gotten very low since the accident as you had missed a whole term so you will need to make up for it by either joining a club or taking extra lessons," Kashiwagi sensei told him as he felt a certain kind of déjà vu but at least this yankee was more like Nippori than the old Wataru.

"Okay, I guess I could try to do what Azuma kun did and join the gymnastics club," Akito said as like he expected didn't fancy taking extra Japanese, English or math lessons. "Okay, you'll need to meet the captain Takenaka Yuta to try out, it isn't easy mind, there will be times it will get hard especially since your legs have just gotten back into shape," Kashiwagi sensei warned as he wanted to at least prepare him for the roller coaster ride he will have. He had a feeling Kyoya would be the first student to choose extra lessons as like the old Kiyama he was never a 'people person' he only ever hanged out with Akito, maybe because he was the only one he thought who understood him and never judged him.

"Okay where can I find him?" Akito asked as by the look in his eyes, he couldn't wait to start. "He'll be in the yard practicing with the boys since they don't get to use the gym hall often," Kashiwagi sensei replied then figured he might as well get it over and done with. Yuta needed as many members as he could get to get as big as the female team, the only matter was if Akito could build up the stamina so soon after his injury.

"Hi!" Akito exclaimed as he speeded ahead of Kashiwagi, like a dog that had gotten let of from the leash. "Um… Hello Toshibo kun… I suppose Kashiwagi told you that you need to get more credits to leave school with a good grade so you want to join us and learn how to do tumbling," Yuta said as he thought Hino was right. On one hand, he was glad he had started the club for people like Wataru to find something better to spend their energy on than fighting and make a fresh start for themselves. "Yeah I don't think anyone else would have me with the…. You know," Akito mumbled as another sad memory came to mind. "Well you never know but you can give it a go, no one thought those three would be able to do a single flip but they did, it shouldn't be any different for you because of your condition," Yuta said as he gestured to the three former yankees as they went through their warm up stretches with the original members. "O- okay thank you Taken…. What's your name again?" Akito asked as he just realized he had forgotten all of their names.

"Takenaka Yuta, you were close, you'll get to know the others over time… would you like me to help you with the warm up stretches?" Yuta asked as he stepped back from him. "Yeah I haven't done tumbling since…. Elementary or middle school," Akito replied as he couldn't even remember when he last did gymnastics, it worried him how bad his memory was. "Okay just keep calm, this might hurt a little but you'll get used to it… hopefully," Yuta said as he climbed up onto his legs with more caution than the others as he knew they must have been seriously damaged for him to miss a whole term and that they were still in recovery.

To his surprise he didn't yell or make any fuss like Wataru did, he stayed quiet and followed his lead. "He seems like he's stronger than you Wataru kun," Hino teased which nearly resulted in Kaneko falling off him as he knocked him off in a temper. "Shut up and stretch while you still have your legs," Wataru snapped which just made him chuckle under his breath. Everyone else had gotten used to their banter so they didn't worry about the old red demon beat the living daylights out of Hino.

Soon after that they began tutoring Akito in the basic tumbling moves and also unlike Wataru, he was patient and kept his cool even when he fell flat on his face multiple times. "You're getting there just try to be more gentle with your body so you don't crash on the ground so hard," Misuawa advised as he put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Even though he wouldn't say it in front of him, he was doing better than Wataru did as he just got on with it and paid attention to their instructions. Maybe there was some potential in the boy, despite his disability.

"Disability doesn't mean inability! Disability doesn't mean inability!" Akito chanted as he went to attempt another handstand against the wall. At that moment all of the boys froze and watched him in bewilderment as they wondered what he was talking about. "It's something my adopted mom told me because some people think just because you're not all right in the head you can't do anything right," Akito said as his voice strained as his back hit the wall for a second before he tumbled back down on the ground again. "Yeah that's a good motto, you shouldn't let something you were born with hold you back," Satoshi said as he smiled at the new boy as he agreed with him whole heartedly. He would really like to see a boy with a disability go the distance, even if it was a completely different disability to him.


End file.
